Comments on: Translation challenges of Kriol signage in the Top End

By: Wamut

Wamut — Wed, 06 Jul 2016 02:48:00 +0000

Hi Alex, thanks for the comment. And yes, I agree that the poorly done translation not only misses its obvious communicative goal but symbolically probably gives has a reverse effect on how the sign putter-uperrer was hoping to be perceived.

I got to see the Shadow King when it was performed in Katherine a couple of years back. On the language side of things, it has been done very well. Tom E Lewis is a first language Kriol speaker and Kamahi Djordon King who is also in the cast is a Katherine local and is very familiar with the language. I know both of them personally and they, along with the rest of the cast, were heavily involved in the script development. When I saw The Shadow King in Katherine, I was lucky enough to be in the audience along with several dozen people from the community of Beswick (where Lewis has worked for many years) and there was no evidence that the language side was done poorly. In particular, I recall a more senior woman from Beswick who I doubt had ever been to a indoor staged theatre performance before, was really struck by the Yolngu Matha speaking actor and was glued to her every word. Was a great night to be there.

It just demonstrates further the arts industry really does lead the way in acknowledging and including Indigenous languages.

Greg.

By: ALEXANDRA GREY

ALEXANDRA GREY — Tue, 05 Jul 2016 12:09:00 +0000

Really interesting, Greg. In my fieldwork in Sth China, some participants found government signage in Zhuang language to be incorrect and, therefore, quite insulting rather than a symbolically inclusive use of language, which is what the sign in question seemed to be aiming for. I imagine seeing the incomprehensible Kriol-ish sign you photographed, and then to have the government author wrongly stand by it, must be insulting or infuriating to people too! In a much more positive example, I recently saw the Australian adaption of the play King Lear, called The Shadow King, which makes a feature of Kriol and other Aboriginal languages and stars Tom E Lewis, who also co-developed the play. It was very successful in Australia and is now on in the UK, with the Australian cast. I haven’t found much commentary on its use of language – whether it’s seen as correct or incorrect, or its performative functions – but Tom E Lewis recounts the show’s popularity with Aboriginal language-speaking audiences in Katherine: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/australia-culture-blog/2014/sep/16/tom-e-lewis-an-aboriginal-lear-on-walking-the-blackwhite-divide. If you saw the play, Greg, what did you think of the use of Kriol?

By: Language on the Move

Language on the Move — Thu, 30 Jun 2016 09:48:00 +0000

Thanks, Greg, for this interesting post! It strikes me that the low quality of the translation and the response you received from the Department for Primary Industries are yet another manifestation of the monolingual mindset. That languages other than English are systems in their own right is relatively invisible to monolingual English speakers, and this is particularly true when it comes to Kriol – as Sally Dixon and Denise Angelo have also shown with reference to Kriol in schools, in a great article about “dodgy data and language invisibility” (see http://languageonthemove.com/dodgy-data-and-language-misdiagnosis ). They observed a similar confusion between language and identity – or misrecognition of ethnic background as language proficiency – that is evidenced in the response you received from the Department.
Ingrid